Evaluation

Before you spend a lot of time designing your project, it is essential that you give it careful evaluation. First, weigh the pros and cons of your project. Begin thinking about possible team members, test your technology, and establish a realistic timeline. Everything check out? You’re ready to design!
To make your product succeed, you need to meet the market’s needs. Consider your previous road map step (Research) results on the state of current solutions and see how your idea compares. Ask around or take a survey to find out what might be the most useful to customers, and what features they are seeking. After feeling out your ideas and how you might implement them, whittle down your list to the more manageable and profitable few.
This can be a good time to evaluate your set of components and the general design for potential speed bumps before production. Plan ahead for what testing processes will be used, product lifecycle, and troubleshooting while setting up your resources and development timeline.
Establish cost, competition, general timeline, and which manufacturers to use for your product. Will your product come out before, during, or after a trend? Will it roll out in time with a seasonal trend, or will your idea be immune to that influence? Who’s your competition? What do they offer? What is your target for the final products cost vs. your development and production costs?
Defining what your product is and how you will make it happen gets you started on solving your other steps in your roadmap, such as design, marketing, and production.